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October 24, 2013

World Series 2: Cardinals 4, Red Sox 2

Boston committed two errors on one play in the seventh inning, allowing the Cardinals to take a one-run lead. St. Louis relievers Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal held the Red Sox in check for the next three innings and St. Louis tied the World Series at 1-1.

With Boston holding a 2-1 lead, John Lackey (6.1-5-3-2-6, 95) began the seventh with a strikeout, but walked David Freese and gave up a single to Jon Jay. Boston manager John Farrell swiftly went to his bullpen, calling on lefty Craig Breslow. During the change, Pete Kozma ran for Freese at second base. On a 2-2 pitch to Daniel Descalso, Kozma and Jay pulled off a double steal as catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia could not get a grip on the ball to make a throw. Descalso fouled off a pitch, then walked, loading the bases.

Matt Carpenter lofted Breslow's first pitch to left field; Jonny Gomes made the catch and fired home. His throw was up the first base line, but Saltalamacchia remained anchored near the plate, and tried to reach for the ball. It glanced off his glove for an error, and the tying run scored. Breslow, backing up the play, grabbed the ball and threw it to third, trying to nail Jay. The throw sailed over Xander Bogaerts's glove for another error. Jay easily scored the go-ahead run. Carlos Beltran then singled to right to bring home the Cardinals' fourth run.

The bottom third of Boston's lineup went in order against Martinez in the seventh. In the eighth, Jacoby Ellsbury reached on a fielding error by Carpenter. After Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia struck out, David Ortiz singled to right, but Mike Napoli popped out to shortstop to end the inning. Fireballing closer Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth.

The first four innings of the game were the Michael Wacha Show (6-3-2-4-6, 114) as Joe Buck and Tim McCarver expressed awe for the rookie righthander for more than an hour without letup. They did everything but begin carving his Hall of Fame plaque. Even for Fox, it was an embarrassing display of partisianship. During the Wacha Lovefest, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead. Matt Holliday opened the fourth with a triple to center field and scored on Yadier Molina's grounder to second.

Boston missed a golden chance to score in the bottom half of the fourth. Pedroia doubled off the Wall and David Ortiz walked. Things took a turn for the worse as Napoli grounded into a double play and Jonny Gomes popped out.

The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Pedroia walked with one out and Ortiz lifted a home run to left field.

Ortiz had the best night at the plate for the home team, with a home run, single and walk.

A Cardinals minor league pitcher insinuated via Twitter that Jon Lester was doctoring the ball last night. ... OTM's Mark Normandin points out that if anything untoward was happening with the baseball, we'd see evidence of it in Pitch f/x. ... The simply fact is: Lester pitched well. In his four postseason starts this month, his ERA is 1.67. ... It seems morelikely that the bumbling Cardinals had Vaseline in their gloves. ... Which reminds me: GIFs!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz "declin[ed] to hyperventilate" over the state of Lester's glove, writing: "The Cardinals cheated themselves by playing horrible baseball. Lester didn't need to rely on a mystery substance to beat the Cardinals. The Cardinals beat themselves in Game 1."

There is no polite way to write what transpired at Fenway Park in Game 1 of a supposedly balanced pairing. The Boston Red Sox were who we thought they were. The Cardinals offered a disjointed, literally painful performance ...

This was only the 17th time in the 109-year history of the World Series that a starter held the opposition scoreless for seven innings or more in a Game 1 victory. Lester was the third Red Sox pitcher to do it, joining Luis Tiant over the Reds in 1975 and Babe Ruth, who shut out the Cubs, 1-0, in 1918.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin offered some thoughts on the overturned umpire's call in the first inning and why new instant replay rules will not necessarily stop these blatantly blown calls from happening. He mentions

the inherent worst-case scenario of a challenge system. Say John Farrell had already used the one challenge he's allowed in the first six innings, and lost. He'd be powerless to force MLB to review an obviously blown call like this. If the institution of replay is about getting calls right, and it ought to be, then get the calls right. Don't hold accuracy hostage to an earlier, unrelated play. Again, this could be solved by giving the umpires on-scene discretion on when to review.

It looks like Clay Buchholz, nursing what he called a "dead arm", will make one World Series start - Game 4. ... Xander Bogaerts is the youngest player to start a World Series game since 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera played for the Florida Marlins in 2003.

Manager John Farrell said the Sox are "strongly considering" playing Daniel Nava in left field for Games 3 and 4 because of the larger outfield dimensions at Busch Stadium. ... Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran suffered a right rib contusion making a catch on David Ortiz's potential grand slam in the first inning and is questionable for Game 2.

According to Deadspin (link: http://deadspin.com/god-bless-america-singer-not-actually-a-retired-usmc-1451218077), the Marine Sergeant (ret.) who sang God Bless America was in fact not a 20-year man (as is required to be "retired" rather than just a "veteran") and is instead a retired policeman who has had a second career as a singer at this sort of event. He borrowed the uniform with the approval of the Corps. Because god forbid we don't get our dose of militarism in baseball.

The Pentagon has been holding phony “arrival” ceremonies for fallen soldiers at a base in Hawaii for over seven years, according to recent statements made by the United States Department of Defense to NBC News.Bill Dedman, an investigative reporter for NBC, said that the Pentagon confirmed this week “that no honored dead were in fact arriving, and that the planes used in the ceremonies often couldn't even fly but were towed into position.”

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NBC writes that the ceremonies have been known among some of the military and civilian staff at the base as The Big Lie.

The first four innings of the game were the Michael Wacha Show (6-3-2-4-6, 114) as Joe Buck and Tim McCarver expressed awe for the rookie righthander for more than an hour without letup.

Saturday I'm going to turn the volume down and work out how to sync the TV and radio. BM is just too awful to listen to anymore.

Toward the end of the game they went on and on about how the double steal "set up" the Cardinals' subsequent runs. Am I missing something? Wouldn't the walk to Descalso have put those runners on second and third anyway?